Cramer said there’s a "growing opinion" of climatologists that question the validity of the theory — and the notion that humans are behind global warming.
"I do question it; I’m not convinced of it," he said.
His opponent in the upcoming election, Brad Crabtree tried to set the issue straight.
Crabtree said this issue is perhaps "the most crystal-clear difference" between him and Cramer and that his opponent’s comments are "substantively wrong."
He said there have been "mistakes" in the scientific analysis of global warming trends, "but the idea that there’s a growing chorus among credentialed climatologists that we don’t have a problem is flat-out false."
It is not clear what Crabtree means by those supposed "mistakes" he references. Perhaps he feels compelled to still give some credit to such denialist propaganda since is has become so prevalent. But that is small potatoes compared to the stunning ignorance displayed by Cramer.
I very well may give too much credit to Cramer by giving him the benefit of the doubt and simply attributing his stance to ignorance. Most insidiously he could be essentially paid-off by the interests devoting so much money and effort to push the misinformation Cramer repeats. I do not believe that to be the case though. Most likely I think Cramer is just another one of those suckers for that misinformation, people whose politics compels they to glom onto anything they think disputes climate change and human influence on climate.
Really though to me it does not matter much what the exact story is on Cramer's denial of the science. The why is not necessarily as important as the simple fact that Cramer is spreading the disinformation. Why should Cramer have his unsubstantiated opinion on global warming taken as at all authoritative? Crabtree noted this point:
"I think we need to have a serious conversation about public policy to address energy security and climate stewardship, rather than having non-scientists make bold statements and debate each other about very complex climate science," he said.
I seriously doubt Cramer even has any real clue about what he is saying and that he is merely repeating political talking points. And it would be a real shame if that influenced public opinion and policy.
But my stake should not be the only one in the ground that calls out how Kevin Cramer has it wrong on climate science. Who else will stand up?
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